Sullen, lonely and tired are just some of the adjectives one would use to describe the character of Wolverine in the build-up to Logan, James Mangold’s R-rated threequel that signals Hugh Jackman’s final appearance sporting those iconic claws.
From the ongoing avalanche of black-and-white stills to the film’s arresting first teaser, one set against the sad twangs of Johnny Cash’s incomparable “Hurt,” the marketing team behind The Wolverine 3 has fostered a very particular, almost bittersweet atmosphere ahead of the movie’s March release, all of which strengthens our belief that Logan will be like unlike anything we’ve seen before in the superhero space – when it comes down to tone and style, at least.
Rubbing shoulders with Hugh Jackman are Patrick Stewart as the ageing Professor X and Dafne Keane, the newcomer on board to portray Laura/X-23. Keane is a major catalyst for Logan in the sense that her young mutant becomes a high-priority target for The Reavers and the government-type operation known as Transigen, thereby forcing Jackman’s haggard protagonist into action if he’s to safeguard his younger clone. Such a set-up lays the groundwork for a father-daughter dynamic between Hugh Jackman and Dafne Keane which, coupled with the near-future setting, is about as close to The Last of Us movie as we’re going to get, now that development on Sony’s live-action adaptation has ground to a halt.
Marking the ninth – and final – appearance of Wolverine in the space of 17 years, James Mangold’s Logan will claw its way into theaters on March 3. Boyd Holbrook, Richard E. Grant, Stephen Merchant, Eriq La Salle, Elise Neal and Elizabeth Rodriguez round out the movie’s ensemble cast.
